Barack Obama/Abortion Policy

Pro-Choice Movement

 * Senator Obama received a 100% rating in 2006 and 2008 from Planned Parenthood.
 * Senator Obama received a 100% rating in 2005, 2006, and 2007 from NARAL Pro-Choice America.
 * Senator Obama received a 100% rating in 1997-1998, 2001, and 2003 from the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council.

Resources

 * Project Vote Smart's interest group ratings on abortion.

Pro-Life Movement

 * Senator Obama received a 0% rating in 2005-2006 from the National Right to Life Committee.
 * Senator Obama received a 50% rating in 2002 from the Illinois Federation for Right to Life.
 * Senator Obama received a 0% rating for 1997-2000 from the Illinois Federation for Right to Life.

Resources

 * Project Vote Smart's interest group ratings on abortion.

Voting Record

 * 2007: Senator Obama voted 'No' on S.Amdt.2707 Prohibiting U.S. Assistance for Groups that Support Coercive Abortion.
 * 2006: Senator Obama voted 'No' on S.403 Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act.
 * 2005: Senator Obama voted 'Yes' on S.Amdt.244 Unintended Pregnancy Amendment.
 * 2003: Illinois Senator Obama voted 'Present' on S.B.1661 Illinois Induced Birth Infant Liability Act.
 * 2001: Illinois Senator Obama voted 'Present' on S.B.1095 Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act
 * 2001: Illinois Senator Obama voted 'Present' on H.B.1900 Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 2001.
 * 2000: Illinois Senator Obama voted 'No' on H.B.0709 Illinois DPA Abortion Limitations.
 * 1997: Illinois Senator Obama voted 'Present' on S.B.0230 Illinois Partial-birth Abortion Ban Act.

Resources

 * Project Vote Smart, voting record on abortion.
 * OnTheIssues, Obama's record on abortion.
 * Washington Post Fact Checker on Obama's Voting Record on Abortion.

Criticism

 * In 1997, Obama voted against SB 230, which would have turned doctors into felons by banning so-called "partial-birth" abortion, and against a 2000 bill banning state funding. Although these bills included an exception to save the life of the mother, they did not include anything about abortions necessary to protect the health of the mother, which U.S. Supreme Court decisions had recognized as an important factor in the constitutionality of such provisions. The legislation defined a fetus as a person, & could have criminalized virtually all abortion."


 * Another controversy arose over his position on state and federal bills titled "Born Alive Infants Protection Act," legislative proposals that would proposed to define an infant who survives a late-term induced-labor abortion as a human being with the right to life. In an interview with David Brody on August 16, 2008, Obama stated that he would have supported the federal bill but that the Illinois bill was not identical to it.  William Bennett and others argued that the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act was identical to the federal bill--as amended by state senator Richard Winkel--and that Obama voted against the bill while serving as chairman of the state senate's Health and Human Services Committee.

Following this, Hari Sevugan, an Obama campaign spokesperson, admitted that Obama had made a mis-statement and, according to a press account, "said the senator and other lawmakers had concerns that even as worded, the legislation could have undermined existing Illinois abortion law. Those concerns did not exist for the federal bill, because there is no federal abortion law.  The New York Sun on August 18 quickly publicized the admission. The National Right to Life Committee also released a statement on August 18 claiming Obama was lying, and that an amendment sponsored by Senator Richard Winkel had indeed made the Illinois bill word for word identical to the federal bill.

Following this, the New York Times on August 19, Chicago Tribune on August 20 , Fox News on August 21 , and the National Review on August 22 addressed the issue. On August 25, FactCheck.org released a highly publicized article, Obama and 'Infanticide', stating that Obama had distorted his voting record on the issue. However, the author of that piece conceded that "Whether opposing "born alive" legislation is the same as supporting "infanticide," however, is entirely a matter of interpretation."

Obama strongly rejected the assertion that he or any other elected official who did not support the Illinois bill actually supports "infanticide," calling it "a despicable lie." One of the defenses made is that Rick Winkel, the author of the "Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act," wrote a letter to the editor of the Chicago Tribune stating "None of those who voted against SB-1082 favored infanticide."

Here is an excerpt of Winkel's letter that corroborates this defense against the taunt that opponents of SB-1082 actually favor the murder of children: "I introduced Senate Bill 1082 because of a nurse's claims that abortions at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn resulted in living infants whom hospital personnel then allowed to die without medical or comfort care... None of those who voted against SB-1082 favored infanticide. Rather their zeal for pro-choice dogma was clearly the overriding force behind their negative votes rather than concern that my bill would protect babies who are born alive... We had finally accomplished what we had set out to do - protect a newborn baby's life."

As FactCheck.org acknowledged: "[T]he Obama camp says, the state bill would have a different effect than the BAIPA would have at the federal level. It's state law, not federal law, that actually regulates the practice of abortion. So a bill defining a pre-viable fetus born as the result of abortion as a human could directly affect the practice of abortion at the state level, but not at the federal level, the campaign argues.  And in fact, the 2005 version of the Illinois bill, which passed the Senate 52 to 0 (with four voting "present") after Obama had gone on to Washington, included an additional protective clause not included in the federal legislation: "Nothing in this Section shall be construed to affect existing federal or State law regarding abortion." Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor says that Obama would have voted for that bill if he had been in state office at the time." FactCheck.org also noted that at the time Obama was in the state senate he did say "that the federal bill 'was not the bill that was presented at the state level." That's technically true; though the "neutrality clause" was identical in the federal and state bills, there were other minor wording differences elsewhere." As FactCheck.org concludes:  "Obama's critics are free to speculate on his motives for voting against the bills, and postulate a lack of concern for babies' welfare. But his stated reasons for opposing "born-alive" bills have to do with preserving abortion rights, a position he is known to support and has never hidden."

External resources

 * Project Vote Smart's database of Obama's interest group ratings, Obama's important votes, McCain's important votes and McCain's interest group ratings.

External articles

 * FighttheSmears.com, "Reckless Accusations of Infanticide."
 * Michael Gerson, Obama's Abortion Extremism, Washington Post, April 2, 2008.